It’s day 3. I still play safe by showing you the process used to make the faux cinnabar art beads for the China in My Heart Necklace (made for the IBA Perlen Poesie 2015 Contest). I’m beginning to get scared by the idea that I won’t be able to come up with another 28 interesting ideas for the following days. But the for moment, I’m still here.
I have tried to make faux cinnabar beads both with red polymer clay and white polymer clay and then to paint them with Piñata red alcohol ink. In the end I liked the way it turned out when I used white polymer clay and red Piñata alcohol ink. In the beginning I considered adding a coat of black acrylic paint and then wiping it out, but there was no longer necessary. I liked the beads as they were.
Materials and tools used: white Fimo Professional Polymer Clay, pasta machine, blade, cutter, clay carving tool, red Piñata alcohol ink, a Chinese longevity symbol printed image, a brush, a Lisa Pavelka texture plate. I have prepared the polymer clay, and then rolled it through the pasta machine through a thicker setting. I cut the shape I wanted using the blade. I have turned it on the back and used the Lisa Pavelka texture plate to make a nice design on the back (I have pressed very well). I put the Chinese longevity symbol printed image on top of the polymer clay sheet and then, using a ball pen tool, I imprinted the design into polymer clay. I used a carving tool; I carved the design a little more. I have made some texture around the design using a brush. I have modeled the margins to make them biscuit-like. I have baked it according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once cooled, I have painted it several times with red Piñata alcohol ink.
And that was it! Thank you for accompanying me in my journey!
Learn Polymer Clay 
What a wonderful talent you show, i am hooked to try myself
However am not certain on temperature for oven. Does thickness of clay
Require different degrees and time of baking in order for clay. designs to
be strongly attached? Your help will be so much appreciated.
Thanks so much for your tutoring, you are blessed
Sophia K.
Dear Sophia, thank you for your message! I am sorry for replying so late. I was so caught up with the holidays and my son being on vacation that I kept a low profile. I am very grateful for the beautiful things that you wrote to me! Yes, the temperature is very important, if not the jewelry piece might not be strong enough. You should check the temperature written on the package and I recommend using an oven thermometer (you can buy any oven thermometer). The thickness of the layer does influence the baking time, for thicker layers, you need to put your piece in the oven for longer. When I used Fimo, I used to bake some of my pieces for 45 minutes (at the temperature recommended on the package), but now I am using Cernit and it is written on the package that the maximum time for baking is of 30 minutes. I would say that for other brands than Cernit, it’s better to use longer baking times. I recommend you to read this interesting article by the thebluebottletree.com that has also answers to your questions: https://thebluebottletree.com/bake-polymer-clay-temperature/
I encourage you to try polymer clay. It is a wonderful medium: you can model it, sculpt it, texture it, paint on it (using acrylics, soft pastels, mica powders, alcohol inks, even oil paints in some cases), stamp it, use silkscreens on it, transfer images, add inclusions and so much more. Please feel free to ask me any questions related to polymer clay and I will do my best to reply to them sooner than this time:) Have a wonderful and creative year in 2017 and I wish you to have wonderful experiences and results with polymer clay! My best to you! Mihaela